Disk-based storage devices such as hard disk drives are used to provide non-volatile data storage in a wide variety of data processing systems. A typical hard disk drive comprises a spindle that holds one or more flat circular storage disks. In a magnetic disk storage device, each storage disk comprises a substrate made from a non-magnetic material, such as aluminum or glass, which is coated with one or more thin layers of magnetic material. In operation, data is read from and written to tracks of the magnetic storage disk via a magnetic head having one or more read and write sensors. Typically, magnetic disk storage devices implement fly height control circuitry to control and adjust the clearance between the magnetic head and the surface of the magnetic storage disk. To maximize the device performance, it is important to minimize the spacing between the read and write sensors and the magnetic storage disk. However, as the required spacing decreases to meet higher performance requirements, the probability of contact between a magnetic head and storage disk also increases. Such contact is undesirable as it can cause damage to the magnetic surface of the storage disk and/or cause damage to the read and write sensors in the magnetic head. Consequently, such damage can lead to loss of data and overall operational failure of the magnetic disk storage device. A conventional method of detecting contact between a magnetic head and a magnetic storage disk utilizes an embedded contact sensor within the magnetic head. The embedded contact sensor generates contact sensor signals that are used to detect when the magnetic head has made contact with the storage disk. However, the effectiveness of such contact detection scheme can diminish due to signal noise that corrupts the contact sensor signal, wherein sources of signal noise include interference from magnetic signals on the magnetic storage disk or write currents that are generated during write operations, etc.